The Critical Disability Studies in Archives LibGuide intends to help researchers develop a foundational understanding of disability studies, learn about field-specific archival research issues, and find additional resources to assist their research.
In this guide, you will find:
August Grieger-Petrella created this LibGuide with the assistance of Mindy Williams, Secret Permenter, Professor Melissa Chomintra, and Professor Kristin Leaman.
Critical Disability Studies is an interdisciplinary field that approaches disability as a social and cultural category, a lived experience, and an analytical framework. It explores issues of identity, representation, access, citizenship, technology, knowledge, and power and understands disability as inextricably tied to other social forces and identities, including gender, sexuality, class, and race. The field endeavors to expand people’s understanding of disability and people with disabilities across diverse geographical and chronological contexts.
History is not a constant upward climb. The past was not exclusively worse to experience than the present. For example, the popular narrative that disabled people didn’t exist in the past because they died young because of their disability or were murdered is wrong.
On the contrary, disabled people in the past integrated into their communities and helped however they could, like everyone else. If disabled people, young or old, could not work, they were often cared for by their communities. It is uncommon that they were left to die. Widespread industrialization abruptly changed disabled people’s lives because, now, their worth was dependent upon their ability to maintain a daily job with long hours, like factory work, and do their tasks exactly like everyone else. But disabled people continued to endure. (https://historicengland.org.uk/research/inclusive-heritage/disability-history/)
The historical record is not objective. Instead, it often shows what people value at the moment. The items people deem worthy of saving and showing people, and how they present them, demonstrate to researchers and archivists what people valued, not what life was objectively like. What is missing from the record must be considered when doing archival research. It is hard to find records of disabled lives, not because disabled people didn't exist, but instead, because their experiences were perhaps not valued and/or unknown by the people with the most resources to build archives.
This LibGuide does not intend to be an exhaustive history of disability studies. Please consult the recommended resources page for more information about any topics listed here. Also, the language used throughout is used for historical accuracy and does not reflect current attitudes toward the disabled community. If you’re unsure what language to use, you may consult the keyword section in this LibGuide. However, the keyword section is not an exhaustive list. Disabled people are not a monolith, and each disabled person and community has language choices they identify with. When in doubt, ask!
